(10) If the reader is curious to know what effort was made by the Confederate authorities to enlist slaves and free negroes as soldiers, he will find interesting correspondence on the subject between Davis, Lee, Longstreet, and others. War Records, vol. xlvi., Part III., pp. 1315, 1339, 1356, 1348, 1366, 1370.
(11) Alexander H. Stephens had a small body, small head, and his whole appearance was that of a most emaciated person. For many years of his life he was in most delicate health; so feeble he could not stand or walk. He was moved about in a chair with wheels. His intellect, however, was strong and elastic, and his voice was sufficient to enable him to make a public speech. He wrote much. He was not always consistent in his views. He opposed secession, then advocated it; then again denied that secession was warranted by the Constitution. I knew him well in Congress after the war. He asserted when some of his Democratic brethren were denying Mr. Hayes' title to the Presidency, that it was superior to the title of any President who had preceded him—that by virtue of the decision of the commission, it had become res adjudicata.
(12) Lincoln (Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 113-31; Lost Cause (Pollard), pp. 684-5; War between States (Stephens), vol. ii., pp. 597, 608-12.
(13) Manassas to Appomattox (Longstreet), pp. 584-7; Lincoln (Nicolay and Hay), vol. x., pp. 157-8.
(14) War Records, vol. xlviii., Part I., p. 1281.
CHAPTER XII Siege of Richmond and Petersburg—Capture and Re-capture of Fort Stedman, and Capture of Part of the Enemy's First Line in Front of Petersburg by Keifer's Brigade, March 25, 1865—Battle of Five Forks, April 1st—Assault and Taking of Confederate Works on the Union Left, April 2d—Surrender of Richmond and Petersburg, April 3d—President Lincoln's Visit to Petersburg and Richmond, and His Death
The Sixth Corps, as we have seen, returned from its memorable campaign in Maryland and the Shenandoah Valley to the front of Petersburg about December 5, 1864. It relieved a portion of the Fifth Corps. The right of my brigade rested on the Weldon Railroad, extending to the left to include Forts Wadsworth and Keene. On the night of the 9th, with other troops, the brigade went on an expedition to Hatcher's Run, returning the next day. Again the Sixth Corps constructed winter quarters. The brigade was moved, February 9, 1865, to the extreme left of the army, near the Squirrel Level road, where it took up a position including Forts Welch, Gregg, and Fisher, of which the first two were unfinished and the last named was barely commenced. The brigade completed the construction of these forts. Colonel McClennan, with the 138th Pennsylvania, also occupied Fort Dushane on the rear line.
The brigade, a third time for the winter, constructed quarters.
Discipline in the army continued in all its severity. During my entire service but one instance occurred where I was required to execute a Union soldier of my command. Private James L. Hicks, of the 67th Pennsylvania, a boy nineteen years old, was found guilty of desertion. He had deserted to go to Philadelphia, his home, in company with a soldier of another command, much his senior, who had forged a furlough for himself and Hicks. Both were arrested, returned to the army, and convicted and sentenced to be shot. General Meade ordered me to execute the sentence as to Hicks, February 10, 1865. The man who was largely responsible for Hicks' desertion succeeded, through friends, in inducing President Lincoln to commute his sentence to imprisonment at the Dry Tortugas. I was aware of efforts being made to have Hicks' sentence likewise commuted, and I tried to reach the President with communications asking the same leniency for Hicks. So certain was I that Lincoln had or would reprieve Hicks that I failed to have him shot on the day named. Some officious persons reported my dereliction to Meade, who thereupon (with some censure) ordered me to shoot Hicks on the next day, and to report in person the fact of the shooting. This order I was obliged to obey. The brigade was drawn up on three sides of a square, with ranks opened facing each other, and in the centre of the fourth and open side a grave was dug and a coffin was placed beside it. The condemned soldier was marched between the ranks of the command, preceded by a drum and fife band, playing the "dead-march," and then was taken to the coffin, where he was blindfolded and required to stand in front of six men armed with rifles, five only of which were loaded with ball. At the command "Fire!" from a designated officer, the guns were discharged and poor Hicks fell dead. He was placed in the coffin and forthwith buried. On the same day word came that Lincoln had pardoned Hicks.
Wright's corps became the left of the besieging army, and all the troops were constantly on the alert, never less than one tenth of them on guard or in the trenches.